Claypot rice lovers know that good things come to those who wait. In fact, good claypot rice is synonymous with a wait of at least 30 minutes, though it’s not unusual for that to extend to an hour. So, here’s good news: three-month-old kopitiam stall House of Happiness in Simpang Bedok will have your portion of perfectly chao tar claypot rice at your table in under 15 minutes.

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The rice is pre-cooked, then frozen

When co-owner and cook William Liou decided to go into the claypot rice business, the first thing he thought about was how to shorten the waiting time for customers. After several experiments, the SHATEC-trained chef hit on the formula of pre-cooking the rice slightly, before washing the grains to remove excess starch and freezing them. The pre-cooked grains are then cooked to order, which takes about seven minutes from stove to table. Happily, the resulting rice doesn’t suffer from the advance prep work — the grains, which are cooked in chicken stock, are smoky, toothsome and tasty.

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You may know him as Mr Lorbak

This isn’t William’s first hawker stint. In February 2017, he started Mr Lorbak, a stall selling lu rou fan (pork belly braised in soy sauce on rice), which is made according to his grandmother’s recipe. He now has two Mr Lorbak stalls at Hougang Street 21 and Ubi Avenue 1. William, 32, was the general manager of local hipster restaurant Sprmrkt before he decided to become a hawker: “I didn’t think I'd be happy if I were to remain in the restaurant industry. I wanted to do something more meaningful and figured I should do my part to preserve hawker heritage because that’s the kind of food I like to eat,” he shares.

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Not so traditional

The claypot rice here is sold in individual portions, which contributes to the shorter wait. Besides one with chicken wings and salted fish, most of the offerings aren’t exactly traditional — think clay pot rice strewn with lard, bacon, furikake (Japanese seaweed flakes), or topped with slivers of slow-cooked teriyaki pork jowl. We love that the rice here is consistently tender yet al dente and just tasty enough so that they serve as good vehicles for the ingredients they are topped with. The consistent layer of charred grains lining the base of each claypot is also a winner. Pictured here is William’s signature Lor Bak, which you can order as a side dish for $9.

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Chilli and sauce

What we really appreciate are the different chilli sauces that come with the food. For that you can thank William’s Peranakan mother. “She always makes different chilli sauces for everything, so that’s how I’ve always eaten,” he says. There’s a lemongrass-spiked hae bee hiam (dried shrimp sambal) — redolent of lime leaves, garlic, and dried prawns — for the claypot rice, and another for the lor bak, which is essentially chilli cuca (Nonya vinegar-spiked chilli sauce) amped up with the citrusy tang of lime leaves. Even the dark soy sauce here is cooked down with red beans, which are then sieved out, to imbue it with a mellow sweetness. You can drizzle the sauce over your rice or have it mixed with sliced chilli padi and chopped garlic for extra oomph.

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The look and vibe

The stall occupies a unit vacated by a zi char shop at the back of the two-storey hawker centre at Simpang Bedok. By kopitiam standards, it’s nice and airy, with big round tables and red plastic seats. William cooks here most of the time, along with a small team in the kitchen. If all goes well, he plans to open more Mr Lor Bak and House Of Happinesss stalls in other hawker centres and kopitiams.

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Pork Lard, Bacon, Furikake, Onsen Egg, $7

An easy-to-eat umami bomb where chopped bacon, fried lard and a flurry of furikake (marinated seaweed condiment) are folded into the jasmine rice. We like the salty, smoky bursts of flavour from the crisp bacon and lard, though the furikake gets lost in all that porky goodness. And who doesn’t love a good runny egg atop a bowl of rice? Here, it enriches the dish with its creaminess and tempers the saltiness of the bacon.

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Lorbak, Onsen Egg, Shanghai Greens, $7 (8 DAYS Pick!)

William’s signature lor bak, where pork belly is stewed to melting tenderness, with a thick soy gravy fragrant with five spice powder and star anise. Why have traditional lu rou fan when you can have this smokier version with crisp grains of charred rice at its base and a runny egg on top?

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Onsen Egg, Ikura, Tobiko, $11 (8 DAYS Pick!)

Another umami bomb, but this time, with pops of delicious brininess from the generous lashings of salmon and flying fish roe. Think of this as the chuka (Chinese-style Japanese cuisine) answer to a fish roe rice bowl, but with firmer grains of rice laced with the smoky perfume of the claypot. If only they would offer the option of uni (sea urchin) on top.

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Teriyaki Pork Jowl, $7

The mildly sweet slivers of teriyaki pork jowl practically melt in the mouth thanks to 16 hours of sous vide cooking (vacuum-packed and steeped in a low-temperature water bath). A hint of smokiness permeates the meat as it's seared quickly on the grill before the slices are laid atop a bed of tasty, tender rice. The sweet soy flavours of the meat make this a great option if you’re dining here with kids.

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Chicken Wings, Salted Fish, $7

Though the chicken wings are braised in the same lor bak marinade, they don’t have the unctuous richness that their pork belly brethren boast. Still, if you’re partial to chicken wings, these will hit the spot nicely as they are tender, succulent and full of flavour.

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Bottom line

Tasty, affordable claypot rice that hits the spot. Not serving traditional flavours is a smart move on the towkay's part, as it eliminates any comparison with your favourite claypot rice hawker stall. If you want classic offerings, you can queue up somewhere else for it. Here, he offers riffs on the dish that don’t veer too far from the original and that are delicious on their own, sans the interminable wait.